Tuesday – 10/4/11

Iranian Christian Yusef Nadarkhani, sentenced to death for refusing to renounce Christianity.

“The judge kept asking my client to say, ‘I have renounced Christianity and I recognize Islam’ … and he kept saying, ‘I won’t say that.'”Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, attorney for Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who has been sentenced to death by an Iranian court for refusing to renounce his Christian beliefs and acknowledge Islam as his religion. Mr. Nadarkhani, now 32, converted from Islam to Christianity at the age of 19 and became pastor of a small evangelical community called the Church of Iran. He was arrested in October 2009 and condemned to death for apostasy under Islamic sharia law, which would permit the verdict to be overturned only if the convicted person “repents” and renounces his conversion. Western leaders and human rights groups are calling for Pastor Nadarkhani’s release. (Read the story here.)